Church mergers require vision, faith, flexibility

Saturday

Mergers aren't just for corporations. Churches do it, too, and sometimes for the same reasons: to strengthen a smaller or weaker entity, to diversify the product, to reach a new market.

The business approach to building membership (the entity), by offering options in worship styles and times (the diversifying), to draw seekers (the new market), makes sense.

But churches are more than businesses, so successful church mergers depend on more than a business model, national consultant Tom Bady said in an e-mail response to Register Star questions.

"(Mergers) fail (if) institutional leaders are motivated to merge more by self-interest, or self-preservation, than by a bigger, bolder, clearly divine mission," said Bandy, who heads a Port Aransas, Texas-based firm and has 25 years of pastoral ministry in three denominations. "

“Only vision-driven mergers have a chance to succeed ... mergers in which the result of mission impact, or 'market share' in business language, is clearly greater than the sum of the parts."

It's so far, so good, for a recent merger of two Rockford churches.

When Christ United Methodist Church, 4509 Highcrest Road, and Our Master's United Methodist Church, 5973 Darlene Drive, both of Rockford, merged in July, leaders wanted it to be more like a marriage than a hostile takeover.

One of the first joint ventures for the newly merged congregations was a door-to-door campaign, with teams of members from both churches introducing themselves to neighbors.

In organizing the outreach event, Pastor Patty Anderson was careful not to use the "e-word," or "evangelism," because mainline Protestants are not the churchgoers most likely to knock on your door.

"It was just, 'Let's plant some seeds,'" said Anderson, lead pastor at the 210-member Our Master's congregation.

They have no idea if the canvassing resulted in new visitors, but that wasn't really the point. It was a success, Anderson said, because it served as an ice-breaker among members of the two churches.

"They came back laughing and talking," she said. "At the very beginning (of the merger), there was a lot of 'us' and 'them.' I don't hear a lot of that anymore."

There were lots of questions upon merging, said Senior Pastor Dick Wisdom: For Our Master's church, "Are we going to be taken over? Are we going to lose our identity?" For Christ church, "Will this be a strain on our resources?"

But, he said, "Their worst fears have not been realized. This is two healthy congregations with more in common than not. It's a partnership."

For the 1,700-member Christ United Methodist, merging with Our Master's gave the growing (but landlocked) church another location, which meant more space, without the cost of building another church.

There was a plan for growth, Anderson said, but leaders took pains to build consensus.

"It was never, 'You will do this,'" she said. "Whenever there was a question or issue, we kept talking."

When Betty Gibson of Loves Park, a five-year member of Our Master's church, first heard about the merger with the Christ U.M.C., she was skeptical but realistic.

"I wasn't real excited or real happy, but I knew that we could not continue the way it was," Gibson said. "It was a small and aging congregation. People were wearing out. We were very committed to outreach and mission, and we just didn't have the resources to do what we wanted to do."

She's found that joining with members of the Alpine Center, as the congregation at Highcrest and Alpine is now known, has worked well, if not perfectly.

"There are always going to be a few disgruntled people, but you just have to go with the flow and make your wishes known," Gibson said. "Everything so far has been done by consensus, and everyone has pretty much agreed."

Staff writer Edith C. Webster may be reached at 815-987-1394 or ewebster@rrstar.com.

Keys to a successful church merger

National church consultant Tom Bandy compiled a top 10 list of keys to a successful merger, and a top 10 list identifying the pitfalls. Here are five from each:

What works

1. Mission drives worship. Worship options are measured and strategically developed. Mission is not about the traditions, tastes or comfort zones of pre-merger members, but the ability of the church to connect strangers to grace to God's purposes.

2. Team leadership. Staff leaders are deployed to support a disciple-making process that grows Christians and equips leaders, rather than managing programs. Leadership is by teams of gifted, called and equipped leaders.

3. Measure property and program by productivity. Measure success by personal change and social effect. The longevity or honor of any sacred property or program must be second to relevance.

4. Build around "signature ministries." Don't squeeze the signature ministries between other programs. Focus the major outreach ministries to both bless the public, and draw seekers into the experience of Christian discipleship.

5. Maximize technologies. Communicate to every microcultureers.

What doesn't

1. The merger cannot eliminate "sacred cows" (properties, programs, technologies, or people). Income and energy is sidetracked away from the agenda of God's purpose to redeem the world.

2. The merger conversation fails to include the public. Leaders and members are prayerful, boards meet and members converse, but the churches do not really involve the diverse microcultures.

3. Staff and core leaders fail to integrate as a team. They fail to hold one another accountable for mission attitude, high integrity, skills competency and teamwork.

4. The newly merged church starts too timidly. Leaders and members are too "soft-hearted" and "merciful" around one another. The inevitable loss of some members unduly terrifies them.

5. A middle judicatory (parent denomination) meddles in the newly merged church, imposing policies and procedures that sidetrack the newly formed community of faith from mission to polity.

Source: churchrealty.com; easumbandy.com; netresults.org

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